There are certain character tropes that are prevalent in the horror genre. You have your final girls, you have your comic relief, stoners, and then youâve got your badass alpha male heroes. Sometimes theyâre obnoxious, sometimes theyâre hilarious, and sometimes theyâre the perfect mixture of both. But those badass horror heroes arenât always all that badass.
Keep in mind, though, just because these characters arenât as tough as they first appear doesnât mean theyâre not great. They present an image of aloofness, but might actually be far more sensitive than they first let on. Or they might talk about how prepared they are for any situation, only to reveal they are grasping at straws.
Did You Know? Wicked Horror TV Has Classic and Independent Horror Films Available to Stream for Free!
That doesnât make a character any less interesting. In fact, it often makes them more interesting than the one-note archetype a traditional badass falls into.
These seven characters are remembered for being tough-as-nails, take-charge types, but a lot of the evidence speaks to the contrary.
Rob Dyer (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)
Rob enters into the movie with one mission: heâs here to hunt Jason. Thatâs his soul purpose and heâs been training for it for, well, I guess about a week since his sister died. And when he first encounters Jason, it does not go as planned. In fact, he dies screaming âOh God, heâs killing me!â For some, that line is cheesy as hell, for others, itâs kind of haunting because Rob was so sure he was going to survive.
Lefty (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2)
Lefty at least gets a little bit in at the end and gets to fight Leatherface, but he still doesnât kick ass in the way he seemed to suggest he would. And I think thatâs mostly due to the fact that, as much as he wants to take out this family killing people across Texas, he also really seems to want to die. Everything about him suggests heâs on a suicide mission, which actually makes him a more interesting character.
Dr. Loomis (Rob Zombieâs Halloween)
Dr. Loomis in the original Halloween series is pretty much everything heâs cracked up to be. He is willing to give up everything to protect the people that Michael would seek to destroy. He spends years warning the proper channels what a danger Michael actually is. In Rob Zombieâs films, though, heâs much more incompetent in his race to Haddonfield to try to stop Michaelâs reign of terror. He never warns anyone. He tries to pin the blame on everyone else.
Juno (The Descent)
Juno, right off the bat, is presented as the coolest, most level-headed thrill-seeking badass ever. But man, does she fail to live up to the hype. Not only does she actually murder one of her friends in the cave, but sheâs the reason theyâre all in that situation in the first place. She wanted the pride of discovering a new cave system for the first time. So, she lies to her friends. And when she accidentally kills one of them, she lies and says the monsters did it. Not cool.
Dan Challis (Halloween III: Season of the Witch)
Donât get me wrong, Challis is awesome. But heâs not a badass. Heâs a very flawed, but pretty much average dude. Thatâs what makes him so appealing. Heâs really blue collar for a doctor. But heâs the perfect person to follow in the unraveling of this bizarre mystery.
Creighton Duke (Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday)
Once again, we have a false final chapter with a guy who claims to be much more prepared for Jason than he actually is. Duke seems to know everything there is to know about Jason. But once he actually comes face-to-face, he lasts a matter of seconds. Still, heâs one of the most memorable and entertaining characters in the franchise.
Ash Williams (The Evil Dead Franchise)Â
Thatâs right, topping the list is Ash himself, horrorâs number one most celebrated badass. And donât get me wrong, Ash steps up and gets the job done. But when you look at how different, how scared and nervous he is in the original film. He seems to evolve. But I donât think he ever stops being that guy. All the way up to Ash vs. Evil Dead his first instinct is always to run. He talks himself up because he doesnât actually believe in himself at all. Heâs the cause of most of the problems in his life, but he will step up and do the right thing when he realizes he has to. Basically, when he realizes running isnât gonna work.